January 27, 2020
There were two unusual things about our recent trip to D’Urville Island. The first was that we were off by ourselves and alone for over a week. While the occasional boat would come in just before sunset, they’d leave in the morning, giving us what felt like an entire island to ourselves. We didn’t even get off Legacy except for a couple of long dinghy rides. Our feet never touched shore.
We don’t usually cruise this way. There are almost always other boats around and our days are filled with activities – so many places to see and so many things to do (thanks, I think, Cyndi – our official cruise director). This was nice and oh so relaxing. We were both disappointed when the threat of strong winds chased us back to Nelson early.
The other unusual thing about this trip is that I did boat work. Not the usual stuff which consists of repairing broken stuff, but cosmetic stuff. Our teak outside was getting really bad. See?
This shows the Cetol stain and gloss coming off. To it’s credit, it’s been eight years since it was done and for at least six of those years, it’s looked pretty good. This time we thought we try something recommended by a friend called Semco. It’s more like a teak oil and can be easily applied every season (whatever that means – it’s written on the can). First I scraped the old Cetol off with a paint scraper, then sanded, then used Semco 2-part cleaner. Here’s what we used:
And here is the result…
It’s a mat finish and truthfully, not as stunning as well-done varnish, but it’s so much easier, and it looks so much better than poorly maintained varnish, which is what we end up with most of the time.
To those astute viewers, you noticed that the “before” is the port side and the “after” is the starboard. Yep. I only did one side. I’ll try to get the other side done soon. I’m so happy with the way it turned out that I feel inspired to do more.
I’ll report back on it’s durability down the road. -Rich
